Defective LCD pixels and warranty issues...

[KILOWATT]

Hi everyones...thanks to read.

I'm planning to buy soon a 19" LCD monitor. The more i read about them, the
more i speak with salesmen, i realise that there really is some issues about
the fact that most manufacturers doesn't accept monitors under warranty
because of a "burned" pixel element. I've spoke with the salesman of a local
electronics store and he said that the return criteria varies from a
manufacturer to another. For example he said that a particular monitor maker
will accept to replace an LCD panel is there's a minimum number of pixels
(eight to twelve!) and those must be in a typical pattern (not scattered)
for the panel to be considered as a defective one! He did not had any
precise data on hand about those strict criterias, but this was enough to
discourage me of buying...well,for a while! When i went out at a computer
store with a friend who had to buy a DVD writer, i asked the guy there what
he thinks personally about LCD monitors.

He said that years ago,they almost had to fight with customers to convince
them that they had to bring back home their almost new monitor because the
manufacturer would not accept to replace an LCD for one or two defective
pixels. The return rate (angry customers) was then one out of ten monitors.
The return rate is now more like one out of thirty he said. None seems to
know the exact criterias about the defects for the warranty to be honored
,nonetheless! Do anyone here have/had any experience with such aspect of
warranty returns? TIA for any replies.

--
Alain(alias:Kilowatt)
Montréal Québec
PS: 1000 excuses for grammatical errors or
omissions, i'm a "pure" french canadian!
(If replying also by e-mail, remove
"no spam" from the adress.)

 

[John]

Hi everyones...thanks to read.

I'm planning to buy soon a 19" LCD monitor. The more i read about them, the
more i speak with salesmen, i realise that there really is some issues about
the fact that most manufacturers doesn't accept monitors under warranty
because of a "burned" pixel element. I've spoke with the salesman of a local
electronics store and he said that the return criteria varies from a
manufacturer to another. For example he said that a particular monitor maker
will accept to replace an LCD panel is there's a minimum number of pixels
(eight to twelve!) and those must be in a typical pattern (not scattered)
for the panel to be considered as a defective one! He did not had any
precise data on hand about those strict criterias, but this was enough to
discourage me of buying...well,for a while! When i went out at a computer
store with a friend who had to buy a DVD writer, i asked the guy there what
he thinks personally about LCD monitors.

He said that years ago,they almost had to fight with customers to convince
them that they had to bring back home their almost new monitor because the
manufacturer would not accept to replace an LCD for one or two defective
pixels. The return rate (angry customers) was then one out of ten monitors.
The return rate is now more like one out of thirty he said. None seems to
know the exact criterias about the defects for the warranty to be honored
,nonetheless! Do anyone here have/had any experience with such aspect of
warranty returns? TIA for any replies.

From what Ive read each manufacturer has their own policy so you
should read up on the details of the ones you are interested in. Some
of less well known makes youll probably have to email or call the firm
to find out. The other is each store seems to have their own policy
though at a min theyll go by the makers policy but some stores seem to
have a laxxer policy from the posts Ive read with some stores
according to posts taking back any LCD for any reason but many stores
nowadays have restocking fees.

In general I dont see that many posts about bad pixels nowadays. I
was really late in buying a LCD as there was no way I was going to
spend the the 500-1000 amounts on a LCD that had slow response and
looked fairly terrible a few years ago. Neighbors bought some - mostly
Samsungs that were well reviewed and I thought they looked terrible.
This was a while ago though. They had a weird metallic like sheen ,
the viewing angles were terrible and they had a washed out look. One
neighbor paid 500 bucks for a dinky one. At the time CRTs were
beginning to fall so LCDs looked like a terrible deal and then you add
on the bad pixel problems. In fact I see lots of posts at places like
Newegg under noname brand monitors where people say they have zero bad
pixels. Of course Newegg filters reviews so that might be a factor.

I bought a cheapo Liquid Vision I think it was called for somene I
know 17" $150 last year BF and it had zero bad pixels. I bought
Viewsonic 19" last Feb and it has zero bad pixels. I did suddenly get
a blue partially stuck pixel after a few months but it seems like it
was related to a bad memory stick or something. After I changed that
it went away to my relief. It bothered me so much I actually thought
about buying a new screen.

Even one can be really iiritating. That partially stuck I had - bright
blue in the middle of the screen. When I watched dark scenes in games
and movies you could see this bright blue pixel just floating on the
screen and it ruined anything I watched on it.

 

[Louis]

Hi everyones...thanks to read.

I'm planning to buy soon a 19" LCD monitor. The more i read about
them, the more i speak with salesmen, i realise that there really is
some issues about the fact that most manufacturers doesn't accept
monitors under warranty because of a "burned" pixel element. I've
spoke with the salesman of a local electronics store and he said that

Make your purchase at Staples, Future Shop, or Best Buy.

All three have a minimum 14 day return policy in SK, AB, BC, and MB.
http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Static/static_pages.asp?pagename=help_policy_returns


Found this:
Samsung 913V II 19" LCD Monitor
Item Number 613330
Was $459.95, Now $399.95!
Offer Valid Dec 8 - 13, 2005.
http://www.staples.ca/ENG/Catalog/cat_sku.asp?CatIds=89,465,3616,3619&webid=613330&affixedcode=WW

 

[KILOWATT]

Thanks a lot Louis for the url. John, before starting this thread, i saw
your reply on the thread "Buying a used LCD monitor (it has dead pixels)"
and i admit that for word processing or other tasks, a blue dot in the
center of the screen may not be so terrible, but when viewing a movie or
playing a game with dark scenes... this must be a real pain. Anyone here
have a good url about lcd monitor reviews? That would be of real help. I'm
still watching this thread for some comments about warranty issues. If you
happened to have one...share your experience. Thanks.

--
Alain(alias:Kilowatt)
Montréal Québec
PS: 1000 excuses for grammatical errors or
omissions, i'm a "pure" french canadian!
(If replying also by e-mail, remove
"no spam" from the adress.)

 

[Grumps]

Thanks a lot Louis for the url. John, before starting this thread, i
saw your reply on the thread "Buying a used LCD monitor (it has dead
pixels)" and i admit that for word processing or other tasks, a blue
dot in the center of the screen may not be so terrible, but when
viewing a movie or playing a game with dark scenes... this must be a
real pain. Anyone here have a good url about lcd monitor reviews?
That would be of real help. I'm still watching this thread for some
comments about warranty issues. If you happened to have one...share
your experience. Thanks.

Bought an Hitachi and an Acer LCD monitor (well, my company did), and both
have a single dead pixel. In both cases it's just one of the sub-pixels
(RGB) that do not illuminate. It's no big deal! I could've returned them but
not under any waranty scheme. It would appear that most (if not all)
manufacturers have a quantity of dead pixels that are allowable and don't
constitute a failure. If I did return them, then it'd cost me return postage
and possibly a re-stocking fee.
We also have a few Samsung and ViewSonic monitors. These are all without
dead pixels.
Probably your best bet is to find a retailer (online or otherwise) that has
a policy about these faults. Or try in store before parting with your cash.